Drape separating hanger



May 6, 1952 RINGLl-:R

DRAPE SEPARATING HANGER Filed July 16, 1951 ,INVEN TOR. [Lara L'.infancia? BY. I/

Patented May 6, 1952 UNITED`` STATES PATENT OFFICE DRAPE SEPARATINGHANGER Lloyd L. Ringler, Crawfordsville, Ind.

Application July 16, 1951, Serial No. 236,889

This invention relates to a drape hanger for use .with drapes comprisinga pair of adjacent panels each panel having a lateral vertical edgemovable into substantial juxtaposition with "a mating edge of the otherpanel.

The object of this invention is to provide a hanger including meansengageable with both of said panels at any point along the juxtaposededges thereof to hold said edges in such juxtaposition at and above theselected point of engagement while holding the kportions of said edgesbelow said point of engagement separated to a selective degree.

A further object of the invention is to provide such a hanger which isso constructed that the weight of the dependent separated portions ofthe drapes will act upon the hanger to secure or intensify its clampingengagement with the juxtaposed panel edges.

Further objects of the invention will appear as the descriptionproceeds. l

To the accomplishment of the above and related objects, my invention maybe embodied in the form illustrated in the accompanying drawings,attention being called to the fact, however, that the drawings areillustrative only, and that change may :be made in the specicconstruction illustrated and described, so long as the scope of theappended claims is not violated. i

Fig. l is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of my drapehanger;

Fig. 2 is a sectional View taken through my hanger substantially on theline 2--2 of Fig. l and looking in the direction of the arrows; and

Fig. 3 is a pictorial view of a drape showing the manner in which myhanger is engaged therewith in intended use.

Referring more particularly to the drawings and especially to Fig. l, Ihave illustrated a drape hanger, indicated generally by the referencenumeral I0, comprising two levers II, II pivotally joined for relativemovement abouta connector I2. Each lever II comprises a longer arm I3and a shorter arm I4. The longer arms I3 are disposed for oscillationsubstantially in a common plane substantially normal to the axis ofconnection I2. Preferably, the arms I3 diverge downwardly from connectorI2 for a short distance and then turn outwardly and retreat in oppositedirections from one another.

`f-irms I4 are turned out of the plane of movement of arms I3 andproject upwardly from connector Il. (as shown most clearly in Fig. 2),to

lie in Asubstantially parallel juxtaposition when! the arms I3fa're atthe upper limit of their m0-v 6 Claims. (Cl. 160-123) tion. Arms I4 thusform an elongated mouth I5 for a purpose to become apparent.

Each arm I3 is provided, in the illustrated embodiment of my invention,with an extension bar or extender element I6 which is slidably attachedto arm I3 in any desired manner such as by clip portions I'I and I8 onthe ends of arm I3 and bar I6 respectively. The outer end I9 of each barI6 is turned back on itself and carries a transverse saddle element 20opening upwardlyv from bar I 6.

The hanger I0, as thus described, is designed for use primarily with adrape 2l comprising a pair of panels 22, 22 which, when closed, havelateral vertical edges 23, 23 hanging in substantial juxtaposition. Inthe useof such drapes, sometimes it is desirable to hold the drapesclosed from the top to an intermediate point in their lengths to excludea major proportion of light, but to spread apart some selected portionof the lower parts of the drapes to a selected degree for the admissionof air and/or a desired amount of light. My novel hanger I3 is admirablyadapted to accomplish these ends quickly and easily and Withoutdamaging, soiling or mutilating the drapes in any way.

After drapes 2I are closed and edges 23, 23 are brought intojuxtaposition, a short section 24 of each such edge is turned outwardly,andthe two sections, in facing engagement, are slipped into the mouth15v defined between arms I4, I4. The free portion of each edge 23,beneath sections 24, is then led horizontally outwardly and draped overthe corresponding saddle element 20, as clearly shown in Fig. 3. Theweight of the drapes thus resting in saddle elements 23, 2B tends toapply a torque to arms I4, I4 about pivot I2 resulting in a verysubstantial gripping force being applied to the sections 24 in the edgesof drape panels 22, 22. No other means of securing the hanger I0 to thedrape is therefore required.

By adjusting the positions of bars IS, I6 relative to the arms I3, I3any desired opening may be had between the drape edges 23, 23 and, as isobviously apparent, the sections 24 may be selected at any point alongthe vertical edges of the panels 22, 22 to vary the height of suchopening.

I claim as my invention:

l. A drape-spreading hanger symmetrical on opposite sides of a medianplane and comprising two levers pivotally joined for relative movementabout an axis lying in said median plane, each lever having a iirstportion lying in a plane levers, and said rst lever portions extendingoppositely outwardly from said median plane, and a second portion lyingon the side of said median plane opposite from said rst portion andprojecting from the plane of said rst portion, said second portion ofeach of said levers being in substantially parallel juxtaposition withthe corresponding portion of the other lever, and a saddle element foreach lever carried at the outer end of said rst portion and projectingin opposite directions away from the plane of its lever portion.

2. The hanger of claim 1 in which the rst portion of each of said leversis provided with a secondary element slidably mounted on said rstportion, said saddle elements being carried by said secondary elements,each said secondary element being movable on its lever portion to varythe distance of its saddle element from said pivotal axis.

3. A drape-spreading hanger comprising two levers pivotally joined forrelative movement about an axis closer to one end of each lever than tothe other end thereof so that each lever comprises a longer arm and ashorter arm, said longer arms lying in a plane substantially normal tosaid axis and retreating oppositely therefrom and each including anextender bar slidably secured thereto and carrying, at the end thereofremote from said pivotal connection, a saddle element opening upwardlyfrom said bar, said bars being movable on said arms to vary the distancebetween said saddle elements, and said shorter arms being turnedupwardly from said longer arms and away from the plane thereof insubstantially parallel juxtaposition.

4. In combination with a drape comprising a pair of separate panels,each panel having a lateral vertical edge thereof brought intosubstantial juxtaposition with a mating edge of the other panel, thejuxtaposed edges having outturned sections, a drape-spreading hangersymmetrcial on opposite sides of a median plane including said lateraledges and comprising two levers pivotally joined, the axis of jointurelying in said median plane, each lever having a rst portion lying in aplane substantially normal to the pivotal axis of said levers, said rstportions retreating oppositely from said median plane, and each leverfurther having a second portion lying on the side of said median planeopposite from its associated first portion and projecting from the planeof said first portion, the second portions lying in substantiallyparallel juxtaposition on opposite sides of said outturned sections inthe juxtaposed lateral edges of said drape panels and gripping saidsections whereby said hanger is supported from said panels, said lateraledges below said sections being led away from said median plane andsupported upon the respective ends of the rst portions vof said levers.

5. In combination with a drape comprising a pair of separate panels eachhaving a lateral edge section turned outwardly into substantiallyparallel juxtaposition with the mating edge of the other panel, adrape-spreading hanger comprising two levers pivotally joined, the axisof jointure lying closer to one end of each lever than to the other endthereof so that each lever comprises a longer arm and a shorter arm,said longer arms lying in a plane substantially normal to said axis andretreating oppositely from said axis, and said shorter arms being turnedout of the plane of said longer arms toward said drape, said shorterarms lying in substantially `parallel juxtaposition on opposite sides ofsaid outwardly-turned sections and gripping said sections whereby saidhanger is supported from said panels, said lateral edges below saidsections being led outwardly from the plane of said pivotal jointure andlaid over the respective ends of said longer arms.

6. The combination of claim 5 in which each of said longer arms includesan extension bar slidably secured to said arm and carrying at the endthereof remote from said pivotal jointure a saddle element extendingtransversely of said bar and opening upwardly therefrom to support saiddrape panels, said bars being slidable along said arms to vary thedistance between said saddle elements.

LLOYD L. RINGLER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 6,872 Great Britain Mar. 18, 1910306,570 Italy Mar. 25, 1933

